HARBOR CITY – Cleveland of Reseda coach Greg Venger had a plan to use a pitching staff by committee in Wednesday’s City Section semifinal game against Narbonne of Harbor City.

His plan worked for the first four innings. Then Narbonne’s Juan Avila hit a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth inning in a 7-4 win to advance to the championship game Saturday at Dodger Stadium. Narbonne will face defending-champion Chatsworth, a 4-2 winner over Kennedy of Granada Hills.

“We made one mistake,” Venger said. “That’s on me. I put the loss on me.”

Venger admitted after the game he should have walked Avila. Narbonne coach Bill Dillon said he was surprised Avila even saw a pitch to hit.

But Avila took advantage of the first pitch he saw from Cleveland’s John Wilson (7-2), launching a ball that landed on a classroom rooftop beyond the leftfield fence.

“He hung a change-up,” Avila said. “I think he was nervous. He left it right there.”

In Wilson’s defense, he should have never faced Avila in the fifth inning. With oneout and runners on first and second, he got Narbonne’s Kevin Logan to hit a grounder to first baseman Rigo Ramirez.

It was a perfect double-play ball, but the throw from shortstop Niko Garcia went awry and got caught in Cleveland’s bullpen netting, allowing Logan to advance to second on the error.

With first base open and twoouts, Venger let Wilson pitch to Avila, Narbonne’s No.3 hitter.

“The past two games, I’ve been on fire,” Avila said. “I took it as a challenge. I took over and drove through the ball. Errors kill you.”

Avila’s home run gave Narbonne a 5-4 lead. Narbonne (27-6) added two insurance runs in the sixth inning ending Cleveland’s season one game shy of a return trip to Dodger Stadium. Cleveland lost to Chatsworth in the City championship game last year.

“It’s tough to reflect on the season after a loss like this,” Venger said. “I’m sure if you ask our guys if it was a successful season, they’d say `no.”‘

Cleveland (25-8-1) had its chances. The Cavaliers took a 4-2 lead in the top of fifth inning on a three-run homer by Jordan Liss.

Cleveland used four pitchers. Robert Almendarez started and pitched the first two innings. David Carver pitched the third, followed by Wilson and Zeke Torres.

They also loaded the bases against Narbonne starter Matt Durbin (9-1) in the second and third innings, but only scored one run.

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